Clarification: Elk population estimates

The front page story in the February issue of Fish and Game News included elk population estimates that may be misleading. The estimated population in the mid-1990s of 125,000 elk is based on counts conducted in February 1997. The most recent estimate of 103,000 is based on elk counts conducted in March 2010. The population of 119,000 was based on estimates of elk numbers in the fall of 2010 before the harvest of about 16,000 elk during the hunting season. Fish and Game estimates Idaho's current elk population to be about 103,000, a decline of about 18 percent from the peak in 1997.